World War Z Review – A Different Approach

World War Z (2013)

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Directed By: Marc Forster

Cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz

Language: English

World War Z is a zombie movie unlike any other previous zombie movie. There is a method to the madness and the movie spends its entire duration to find that. It is based on the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks.

Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a former UN investigator is living happily in solitude with his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and two daughters. One day, while stuck in traffic, zombies that hunt by the sound, overrun the city. The family escapes and reaches a US Navy vessel from where the scientists along-with military are contemplating the outbreak. Gerry reluctantly agrees to escort Dr. Andrew Fassbach (Elyes Gabel) in search of the origin of the virus otherwise his family will be thrown out of the ship. From there on how or whether he finds the origin and the cure forms the rest of the plot.

World War Z is not a regular zombie movie of slasher genre with blood everywhere therefore making it a pleasant watch. The entire focus is to make it look like a who-dunnit mystery. Lets say Earth is a serial killer and its killing people by creating zombies. Gerry is trying to reach the killer (origin) by finding clues and retracing its steps. The movie is seen through Gerry’s eyes and we are discovering things with him. There is a clear focus on the clues, the director wants us/Gerry to look at them. Every time the frame freezes on the clue so that we could easily identify it. Gerry is not a solo hero like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando trying to save the world by physically beating the zombies.

The first 20 minutes features a brilliantly shot zombie attack on the square. From the first scene to the last the focus is on the research for the solution rather than the zombies. There are many such moments like in the last scene in the WHO lab which are gripping but none horrific. Creaking doors, crunching of broken glass and rolling of a soda can builds up the tension

World War Z has its flaws too- Gerry survives an aircraft crash landing. Gerry and Segen (Daniella Kertesz) are the only survivors of that crash landing which was not believable for me. The CGI is underwhelming and thus gives a feeling that not much time was spent on the zombification of the characters.

As for performance, Brad Pitt has given a commendable performance as a researcher. He is likable, mellowed but is present from start to finish. The other character I liked was Daniella Kertesz as Segen, a badass Israeli soldier who accompanies Gerry from his escape in Israel. The fighting spirit shown after being in so much pain is so Israeli. After Pitt she has the most significant scenes. Marc Forster has underutilized Mireille Enos. If World War Z was her launchpad to Hollywood then I doubt her decision making. She has almost no role and I pray that the sequel planned would have a more meatier role for her.

World War Z is a one time watch but its not a a typical zombie movie. It has very less bloodshed therefore even kids can watch it. Watch it and share your rating above.